The OFFICIAL Liverpool FC thread - Arne to Slot right in?

[seafoid]

Liverpool supporters — and Jurgen Klopp — will never forget John W Henry's betrayal
Klopp had to stand by as his owners signed off a project that sullied everything that he had created, and all in which he had taken pride


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/04/20/jurgen-klopp-used-human-shield-liverpools-cowardly-owners/
OLIVER BROWN
CHIEF SPORTS WRITER
20 April 2021 • 11:51pm
Oliver Brown

Jürgen Klopp will never forget how he has been treated these past 48 hours. While he has had his honour and his sincerity questioned live on national television for perceived complicity in the European Super League, owner John W Henry and co-conspirators at Fenway Sports Group have sat silently in their Boston lair, saying nothing until universal outrage compelled them to abandon their plot. And even then, their volte face lacked any semblance of contrition or grace. The fiercest protests by their fans were characterised as "representations by key stakeholders". Far from apologising, they wished to "thank them for their valuable contributions".

Quite the unravelling, all told, for a self-styled people's club. Of all the antics by the "dirty dozen", Liverpool's have been perhaps the most discordant. Just 10 months after Klopp engineered one of the most emotional achievements at Anfield, a first league title since 1990, an unaccountable US cabal has antagonised not just supporters but a revered manager. And all for what? For a project that has foundered in the space of two days, a folly that deserves its own hall of infamy as perhaps the most monumentally conceited enterprise ever attempted in the name of sport.

The shattering of a grand delusion has been rapid. But the shadow cast by these events will be long. Lifelong supporters have been condescended to as "legacy fans", while managers have been made to look like fools. The rupture is irrevocable. Ed Woodward fell on his sword as Manchester United's executive vice-chairman, but his will not be the only blood on the carpet. Not when owners have perpetrated such an appalling betrayal, setting fire to everything that their clubs' fans hold dear.


Never will Henry's treacly praise for Klopp be taken seriously again. "I could go on and on about Jürgen, how his heart is larger than his frame, how his enthusiasm affects all of us positively every day," he gushed last summer. This week, he left Klopp to be doused in the wild vitriol unleashed by his precious Super League, watching the carnage unfold from across the Atlantic.

Klopp, at heart, is a dignified and sensitive man. He loves Liverpool with an intensity that Henry cannot begin to understand, joining supporters in their chants and weeping after a first title triumph in 30 years. He adores the Champions League, too, having won it in 2019 and reached the final with two different clubs. He abhors the notion of a competition that would destroy it, having been reared in a Bundesliga culture that wanted nothing to do with the Super League's conceit.


And yet there he was at Elland Road, forced to fend off the swarming outrage essentially alone. He was powerless as Leeds United players left mocking T-shirts in the Liverpool dressing room. He looked on desperately as Gary Neville dismantled the message of You'll Never Walk Alone. He wanted, clearly, to demolish the Super League with every passionate flourish he had, but understood that he was gagged.

That was the bleakness of Klopp's position: that he had to stand passively by as his owners signed off a project that sullied everything that he had created, and everything in which he had taken pride, right down to Liverpool's most sacred anthem. Allied to this, he had to absorb all the sound and fury directed at a ghastly idea of which he wanted no part. His owners' posture was one of quite contemptible cowardice.

We now see, all too starkly, that this is the way with arriviste Premier League owners. They love to lap up the glory, as when Henry wrote a long letter to Liverpool supporters about their shared joy at a sixth European Cup, or when Manchester United's Joel Glazer shuffled awkwardly on stage to toast the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the other part of his paternal inheritance, winning this year's Super Bowl. But when it comes to any decision for which they might be rebuked, they go to ground.

We have grown to accept the muteness of these men as a given. It has somehow become established that the Glazers can saddle United with unconscionable levels of debt and never have to account for it. It is a matter of comedy that Arsenal are owned by a man who goes by the nickname of "Silent Stan". On Tuesday night though, the laughter stopped, and rebellion prevailed.


In time, Thomas Tuchel will wonder what on earth he had done to deserve this. After leading Chelsea into an FA Cup final and the last four of the Champions League, he was sent out to defend a concept developed far above his pay grade, and which drew blanket horror. From Roman Abramovich, of course, there was not a squeak, save for a belated confirmation Chelsea had set the dominoes falling with their request for a Super League exit.

As for Klopp, the depth of his rage can only be guessed at. This week, he has appeared tempted to walk. "If it would help that I go, then I'm already out," he said. In his pain, we have seen the price that is paid for entrusting beloved institutions to billionaires who seem to revel in their remoteness. Klopp, on his own merits, has risen to join the most venerated Liverpool figures. But his faint-hearted owners saw fit to use him solely as a human shield. It leaves a stain that can never be erased.

[laoislad]

Seeing as apologies are all the rage I wonder if Klopp will have the manners to apologise to Gary Neville....

You're a bit behind. Neville already apologised to Klopp "live and exclusive" on Sky Sports.

But sure Gary has just single-handedly saved football don't you know!

[Maroon Manc]

Seeing as apologies are all the rage I wonder if Klopp will have the manners to apologise to Gary Neville....

You're a bit behind. Neville already apologised to Klopp "live and exclusive" on Sky Sports.

But sure Gary has just single-handedly saved football don't you know!

What exactly is Gary's intentions with Salford and just took him the 16 years to slate the Glazers, funnily enough a few weeks after United had appointed a director of football. Neville spoke well but he's clearly a huge hypocrite.

[johnnycool]

Klopp being lauded for coming out against the ESL...

TBH I thought he sat on the fence when interviewed after the Monday night game unless he said something different yesterday!

[north_antrim_hound]

Klopp being lauded for coming out against the ESL...

TBH I thought he sat on the fence when interviewed after the Monday night game unless he said something different yesterday!

He did more than his counterpart at Chelsea and as much as pep did yesterday so what do you want really. He backed up his position on it when he said his comments from 2019 on the proposed ESL have not changed. They have gave him everything he wanted to take LFC back to the top and all that with actually no expense compared to Man U and city in the transfer window. He was between a rock and hard place and spoke as much as he could on the subject. He was more intent on protecting his players than lambasting the perpetrators so that's fine with most LFC fans I'm sure.

[GetOverTheBar]

Klopp being lauded for coming out against the ESL...

TBH I thought he sat on the fence when interviewed after the Monday night game unless he said something different yesterday!

He did more than his counterpart at Chelsea and as much as pep did yesterday so what do you want really. He backed up his position on it when he said his comments from 2019 on the proposed ESL have not changed. They have gave him everything he wanted to take LFC back to the top and all that with actually no expense compared to Man U and city in the transfer window. He was between a rock and hard place and spoke as much as he could on the subject. He was more intent on protecting his players than lambasting the perpetrators so that's fine with most LFC fans I'm sure.

He's been there 5 mins, any comments he made whatsoever would have been deemed insincere.

[Boycey]

Seeing as apologies are all the rage I wonder if Klopp will have the manners to apologise to Gary Neville....

You're a bit behind. Neville already apologised to Klopp "live and exclusive" on Sky Sports.

But sure Gary has just single-handedly saved football don't you know!

What exactly is Gary's intentions with Salford and just took him the 16 years to slate the Glazers, funnily enough a few weeks after United had appointed a director of football. Neville spoke well but he's clearly a huge hypocrite.

Yeah be interesting to see where Neville goes now, been conspicuous for his lack of criticism of the Glazers for years. Half-heartedly tried to justify it the other night by saying that that was Man Utd, and you could still watch them,  and what were the alternatives but the Super League was the whole of football being attacked...

But in the list of bad guys in the current scenario he's way down the list

[J70]

Seeing as apologies are all the rage I wonder if Klopp will have the manners to apologise to Gary Neville....

You're a bit behind. Neville already apologised to Klopp "live and exclusive" on Sky Sports.

But sure Gary has just single-handedly saved football don't you know!

What exactly is Gary's intentions with Salford and just took him the 16 years to slate the Glazers, funnily enough a few weeks after United had appointed a director of football. Neville spoke well but he's clearly a huge hypocrite.

Yeah be interesting to see where Neville goes now, been conspicuous for his lack of criticism of the Glazers for years. Half-heartedly tried to justify it the other night by saying that that was Man Utd, and you could still watch them,  and what were the alternatives but the Super League was the whole of football being attacked...

But in the list of bad guys in the current scenario he's way down the list

Whatever he did or didn't do in the past, whatever his own personal reasons for making this stand, Neville has been at the forefront of the backlash which brought down this monstrosity.

He deserves a lot of credit for that IMO. So do supporters groups like Spion Kop 1906 and the Chelsea fans yesterday.

Klopp, Milner, Shaw and the rest do too, as they were not in an easy position.

[north_antrim_hound]

With all that being said I think a proper apology would be to buy Halland and Mbappe, that would ease some of the hurt 😉😉

[laoislad]

Story of the season that match.
f**k it anyways.

[Tony Baloney]

What a pathetic ending.

[J70]

Story of the last three months. Messing about, not taking chances.

Just sickening that they get a dodgy VAR reprieve and then blow it anyway.

Very hard to see them making top four now.

Roll on next season!

[quit yo jibbajabba]

Nahin more than they deserved and ye seen it comin from half an hour out.

Im away to kick the dog. Must go buy one first. Fuckitt ill kick the neighbours (dog) instead

[laoislad]

Story of the last three months. Messing about, not taking chances.

Just sickening that they get a dodgy VAR reprieve and then blow it anyway.

Very hard to see them making top four now.

Roll on next season!

Only thing worse than not being in the Champions League would be being in the Europa League.
If they don't get Top 4 which looks likely then I hope they finish far enough down the table that they don't get Europa League either.

[Milltown Row2]

What a pathetic ending.

Could have been a defeat, so a draw was a fair result all round. Handy run in so plenty time to pick up points